Monday, September 15, 2014

Gifts of the Heart

As is typical for a Monday, which is the young missionaries’
preparation day (p-day), I ( Dan) drove several elders to the grocery store for
their shopping trip. It is always fun to
be with them and they are so appreciative of any little thing we do to help
them. We made a few key treat deliveries
on base – one to a less active mom that runs hot and cold, and today she was
very friendly; one to a fairly recent convert that has been undergoing some
major health issues – he loves peanut butter cookies; and finally a large
basket of fruit and cookies for our young marine that just got back from his surgery. All of these short visits went well and we
felt successful. The transition that
takes place in our relationship with these folks is amazing. At first we are visiting them because we are
missionaries and it is part of our job.
But we very quickly come to know and love them as dear friends. Like our young marine that just underwent
surgery. We have been seeing him for a
year now, and he seems like a grandson rather than an assignment. We just love him to pieces. Our next task was to drive a young woman from
our ward to Richmond. She is going to
be serving a full time mission beginning in October. The Stake President decided it would be a
good idea for her to serve a mini-mission to prepare for her full time
mission. She is bit of a slow learner so
he thought it would be a good test run for her.
Today was the scheduled day for all of the new missionaries to arrive
from the Missionary Training Center. The
first thing they do when they arrive from the airport is to meet at a church building, fill out
some paperwork, and have dinner. So we
took the young lady from our ward to Richmond to meet up with and join the new
missionaries. But it was more than just
a transportation chore. We also stayed to
help serve the new young sisters and
elders their dinner. The two senior
sister missionaries that work in the office prepared the dinner and we served
it, carrying out the full plates of food, clearing empty plates, and serving
the desert. It was great fun getting to
interact with these brand new missionaries.
They are nervous but also eager to get started in their work. After a long drive home (185 miles round
trip) we are tired but happy. That is
usually our state of mind at the end of our great missionary days here in
Virginia.

Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) had a long training session today. We were in a classroom from 9am to 3pm. It was pretty good training and we really
like all the other volunteers. It was
fun to spend time with them. We were
able to make some successful visits after our training. We met a family that just arrived on base, an
Army officer and his wife and two children.
The Marines hold a large class each year that is specifically designed for
mid-range officers. There are slots open
for inter service officers. So this
young Army officer got selected to attend, which means he must be a pretty good
officer. It was enjoyable to get to know
his family a little bit. They are from
Florida real near where grandmother and papa Douthitt live. Finally we held our weekly family home
evening at The Basic School. We had only
two in attendance, a young male marine and a female TBS staff member. She is an athletic trainer whose job is to
get the marines back into training as soon as possible if they get
injured. Even with just two we had a
great discussion and lesson. When there
are smaller groups like this we get a chance to know them better.

We served a long shift at NMCRS. Some of the other volunteers could not work
today because of the long training session we all attended yesterday. So Lezlie and I were the only volunteers
there. We took care of a lot of
marines. I handed out my largest check
ever, $4500. A marine and his wife had
missed several mortgage payments and the bank was starting foreclosure
proceedings on their house. They missed
the payments because his wife has Multiple Sclerosis and could not work for 3
months. They had been using her income
to pay their house payments. It was a
complex case, but we worked through it and got him his money. We were able to make a couple of family
visits on base, both to less active families.
It is a bit sad doing these visits.
We can see so clearly how living the Gospel could help these young
families with the challenges they are facing in their lives. But they have to see that for
themselves. We hope that the thin
connection with church that we are trying to maintain helps them at some time
in the future. This evening we had a
most enjoyable dinner with a marine. He
is a senior enlisted guy, a Master Sergeant.
He is retiring next month. His
wife and two children have already moved to San Antonio, Texas so that the kids
could start school there. So he is a
bachelor this month. We took him out for
a nice dinner, and it was great to get to know him a little better. His formal retirement ceremony will be early
in October, and his family will return for that. We were thrilled to receive an invitation to
his retirement ceremony and an open house to say goodbye to the family.

We had a second full day of training for NMCRS. Today was more of a personnel training
curriculum – how to deal with different personalities, how to improve the
office, how to deal with conflict, etc. At our meeting today we heard some pretty
impressive statistics. Last year NMCRS
did the following; provided assistance to 65,358 Navy or Marine personnel, both
active and retired; provided $48.6 million in loans and grants; employed 170
paid staff members and 3,791 volunteers.
We are proud to be a part of this group that is helping so many young
marines, sailors and families.

I (Dan) got the chance to teach a lesson with a young elder
today (Friday). His senior partner had
to interview some folks for baptism and they also had this lesson
scheduled. So they asked me to fill
in. The young elder was quite
nervous. He has only been out for 8
weeks and this was the first time he had ever been the leader for a lesson. We taught a man from Ghana who is about
sixty. He was very kind and open, and
was quite interested in learning the gospel.
The young elder did a great job and invited the man to be baptized in 3
weeks. He asked him not to answer
immediately but to think and pray about it for a couple of days. He took the invitation very seriously. I contributed a few stories to the lesson
that seemed to add to the topic. It was
an enjoyable experience.

Our Stake has an annual event called “Gifts of the
Heart.” Essentially this is a giant
garage sale but everything is free. For
many months prior all the local members are reminded to save things that they
would take to Goodwill or get rid of. On
Friday night folks drop off their donations.
Lots of donations! We had to drop
off a van load of stuff for members and we worked a shift as well. The donation drop off was amazingly well
organized. There were signs, traffic
directors, and barriers all over the parking lot that directed you into two
lanes by the back doors. There were
about 100 youth volunteers there, and as soon as you stopped they swarmed over
the car like locusts. The car was empty
in about 2 minutes. Volunteers worked
late into the night to sort items into various categories and distribute them
around the church building. Lezlie and I
spent two and a half hours sorting clothing.
The gym had about thirty tables, each with a helium balloon hanging
above. The balloons were labeled with
the type of clothing – Men Large, Women Medium, Boys, Infants, etc. We sorted about a twenty large bags of
clothing. It was amazing to see all of
the donations and all of the volunteers (see pictures). It was a tiring but rewarding night.

When we got home
tonight we found a very nice note on our door.
It was from the Elders that we helped today with the lesson and a
ride. It was touching and humbling to
receive their note of thanks. For your
information, Mark 8:34 says, “And when he had called the peopleunto himwith
his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him
denyhimself, and take up his
cross, andfollowme.”

Saturday was another
opportunity to serve at the “Gifts of the Heart” event. We had only planned to work the shift last
night. However, a young marine wanted to work a shift today and asked for
transportation, so we said yes.
Unfortunately, Lezlie has come down with a rotten cold and did not want
to be sneezing and coughing on folks. So
I took our marine by myself. One of
the advantages of senior missions is that you can split up if it makes
sense. So we today we did. The marine was appreciative and happy to go
help out. We did not have to work as
long as we thought because there were so many helpers that they got things done
faster than expected. But we did help
somewhat, hauling out boxes of trash, putting bags of left over items into
trucks to be taken to Goodwill, breaking down boxes, and moving chairs back to
classrooms. There were many young elders
there and some of them needed rides home.
I left my marine friend with a group of 8 missionaries and they all had
lunch together at a nearby spot while I took some other missionaries home. Our marine is a new convert and we think he
needs all the interaction with church members he can get. So it was great for him to spend some time
with the missionaries (see picture).
After taking some more missionaries home I took our marine friend back
to the base.

We had a pretty routine Sunday, except that Lezlie missed
church. She has been battling a nasty
cold and had too much sneezing and runny nose symptoms to go to church. I attended alone, and boy did that feel
strange. Everyone noticed and asked
about Lezlie and wished a speedy recovery.
After she slept about 12 hours she has felt much better this
evening. I am sure in a couple of days
she will be fine. So we spent a quiet
day reading and preparing lessons for the week.
We are going to have a new adventure teaching the temple prep class to a
young man that was baptized about a year ago.
He has become a friend or ours here.
He is the man that we have mentioned before that has significant medical
problems. And even though he is not a marine, we try to help him out whenever
we can. The ward is not planning on teaching temple prep until November and our
friend is anxious to take it. So we get
to go into his home and teach the lessons.
We received a wonderful note from
Carrie today. She said,” We miss you so much. But sometimes I am so
overwhelmed with gratitude because of the blessings that seem to be directly
related to your missionary service it makes me want you to stay on a mission
forever. Not really. Please come home. Just know that we are greatly
blessed. The Lord is mindful of us and takes care of us.” We were so
thrilled to receive this note. As senior
missionaries we have been promised that our family will benefit and be blessed
as we serve. This note as well as other things we have heard from the family confirms
that this promise is being fulfilled.